Divine Botrytis spreads

Harvest 2008 will be remembered as probably one of the coolest season in Eastern Washington in a long time. Our grapes are coming at low sugar (a good thing for lower alcohol), good flavor and high acid (which is great for Riesling in general). We are about 40% through picking we need to make serious strides in the next two weeks as we are drawing near the end of harvest.

One unattended consequence of this long cool hang time is the slow development of good botrytis. Good and divine Botrytis (as opposed to bad and evil botrytis aka sour rot) occurs when the botrytis fungus grows inside the grape berry and literally dries up the berry by using the water within resulting in a concentrated grape berry. Wines made from partially or completely botrytized harvest are among the most complex and delicious in the world.

This year I figure that about 15% of our berries have been dehydrated with botrytis and that bodes well for the complexity of our wines. We might even try a little TBA (for Trocken Beren Auslese: 100% botrytized harvest) for fun…